Graduation Year

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.S.

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

Degree Granting Department

Integrative Biology

Major Professor

Melanie Riedinger-Whitmore, Ph.D.

Co-Major Professor

Jeremiah Doody, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Iske V. Larkin, Ph.D.

Keywords

Sirenia, Endangered species, Charismatic megafauna, Conservation biology

Abstract

Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) are threatened marine mammals that inhabit the coastal and near shore waters along the southeastern United States, primarily Florida. Manatee conservation is multi-faceted. One component of the manatee recovery program is the rescue and rehabilitation program that provides care for sick, injured and orphaned manatees. The science of conservation biology, whose goal is to maintain biodiversity using a multidisciplinary approach, can be applied to aspects of the manatee rescue and rehabilitation program.

A federally authorized, state implemented, rescue system has been in place for many years to rescue and treat injured and orphaned animals. Rescued manatees are brought into a network of permitted acute care facilities for medical care in an effort to rehabilitate them for eventual release into the wild. Rehabilitation is expensive but has been deemed to be a benefit to the species as the number of manatees released from the rehabilitation program may be as high as 9% of the estimated manatee population. The cost of manatee rehabilitation has been partially offset by a state reimbursement program that provides financial assistance to qualified facilities. This thesis documents the history of the manatee rescue and rehabilitation program in the context of conservation biology. It provides an analysis of rescues by region and cause (1993-2022) which increased 337% over the study period. It also evaluates treatment in the reimbursement program (2013-2022) and concludes that funding limits of the state's reimbursement program are appropriate to support rehabilitation and release.

I conclude that the number of rescues has increased in all regions. This increase is straining the rehabilitation network's capacity. Natural causes, including unusual mortality events, are a primary driver of rescue increases. At the same time, acute care capacity has not increased commensurate with the increasing number of rescues. Given that climate change and increases in human population will likely exacerbate variables related to the natural phenomena that affect manatees in the future, the rescue network and acute care facilities' capacity is predicted to continue to be exceeded. To meet future program needs, I recommend increasing the number of facilities to provide geographic redundancy, fill geographic gaps and increase capacity to best facilitate species' recovery. In addition, a temporary holding facility that could serve as a halfway house for orphaned calves would provide a cost-effective solution to the high demand for space during the winter.

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